indian+timeline


 * ~ Period ||~ Description ||
 * __ ANCIENT __ EMPIRES ||  ||
 * ca. 2500-1600 B.C. || Indus Valley culture. ||
 * ca. 1500-500 B.C. || Migrations of Aryan-speaking tribes; the Vedic Age. ||
 * ca. 1000 B.C. || __ Settlement __ of Bengal by Dravidian-speaking peoples. ||
 * ca. 563-ca. 483 B.C. || Life of Siddartha Gautama--the Buddha; founding of Buddhism. ||
 * ca. 326-184 B.C. || Mauryan Empire; reign of Ashoka (269-232 B.C.); spread of Buddhism. ||
 * ca. 180 B.C.-A.D. 150 || Shaka dynasties in Indus Valley. ||
 * ca. A.D. 320-550 || Gupta Empire; classical age in North India. ||
 * 606-47 || North Indian empire of Harsha. ||
 * 711 || Arab invaders conquer Sindh, establish Islamic presence in India. ||
 * 750-1150 || Pala Dynasty. ||
 * 1150-1202 || Sena Dynasty. ||
 * GROWTH OF ISLAM ||  ||
 * 997-1027 || Mahmud of Ghazni raids Indian subcontinent from Afghanistan. ||
 * 1202 || Turkish conquerors defeat Sena Dynasty and overrun Bengal. ||
 * 1206-1398 || Delhi Sultanate. ||
 * 1398 || Timur sacks Delhi. ||
 * 1414-50 || Sayyid Dynasty; renewal of Delhi Sultanate. ||
 * 1451-1526 || Lodi Dynasty. ||
 * THE MUGHAL PERIOD ||  ||
 * 1526 || Babur lays foundation of Mughal Empire; wins First Battle of Panipat. ||
 * 1556-1605 || Akbar expands and reforms the empire; Mughals win Second Battle of Panipat. ||
 * 1605-27 || Reign of Jahangir; in 1612 East India Company opens first trading post (factory). ||
 * 1628-58 || Reign of Shah Jahan. ||
 * 1658-1707 || Reign of Aurangzeb, last great Mughal ruler. ||
 * 1707-1858 || Lesser emperors; decline of the Mughal Empire. ||
 * BRITISH PERIOD ||  ||
 * 1757 || Battle of Plassey--British victory over Mughal forces in Bengal; British rule in India begins. ||
 * 1835 || Institution of British education and other reform measures. ||
 * 1857-58 || Revolt of Indian sepoys (soldiers) against East India Company. ||
 * 1858 || East India Company dissolved; rule of India under the British crown--the British Raj--begins with Government of India Act; formal end of Mughal Empire. ||
 * 1885 || Indian National Congress (Congress) formed . ||
 * 1905 || Partition of Bengal into separate provinces of Eastern Bengal and Assam, West Bengal. ||
 * 1906 || All-India Muslim League (Muslim League) founded. ||
 * 1909 || Morley-Minto Reforms; separate electorates for Muslims. ||
 * 1912 || Partition of Bengal annulled; new province of Bihar and Orissa formed; __ plans __ to move capital from Calcutta to Delhi announced. ||
 * 1916 || Congress-League Scheme of Reforms (often referred to as Lucknow Pact) signed. ||
 * 1919 || Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms; Government of India Act. ||
 * 1935 || Government of India Act of 1935. ||
 * 1940 || Muslim League adopts Lahore Resolution; "Two Nations" theory articulated by Muslim League leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah and others. ||
 * August 16, 1946 || "Direct Action Day" of Muslim League. ||
 * INDEPENDENT INDIA ||  ||
 * August 15, 1947 || Partition of British India; India achieves independence and incorporates West Bengal and Assam; Jawaharlal Nehru becomes prime minister of India. Pakistan is created and incorporates East Bengal (the East Wing, or East Pakistan) and territory in the northwest (the West Wing, or West Pakistan); Jinnah becomes governor general of Pakistan. ||
 * August 15, 1947-May 27, 1964 || Jawaharlal Nehru serves as prime minister and leader of Congress-controlled government. ||
 * October 22, 1947-January 1, 1949 || Undeclared war with Pakistan; ends with United Nations-arranged ceasefire. ||
 * January 30, 1948 || Mahatma Gandhi assassinated in New Delhi. ||
 * October 20-November 21, 1962 || Border war with China. ||
 * June 9, 1964-January 11, 1966 || Lal Bhadur Shastri serves as prime minister of Congress-led government. ||
 * August 5-September 23, 1965 || Second war with Pakistan. ||
 * January 24, 1966-March 24, 1977 || Indira Gandhi serves as prime minister for first time, head of government initially led by Congress, later Congress (R). ||
 * December 3-16, 1971 || Third war with Pakistan; Bangladesh becomes independent following Indian invasion of East Pakistan. ||
 * June 25, 1975-January 18, 1977 || State of Emergency proclaimed by Indira Gandhi. ||
 * March 24, 1977-July 28, 1979 || Morarji Desai serves as prime minister as head of a multiparty front, Janata Party, India's first non-Congress government. ||
 * July 28, 1979-January 14, 1980 || Chaudhury Charan Singh serves as prime minister as head of a Janata-led coalition government. ||
 * January 14, 1980-October 31, 1984 || Indira Ganhdi serves as prime minister for second time, head of Congress (I) government. ||
 * October 31, 1984 || Indira Gandhi assassinated in New Delhi. ||
 * October 31, 1984-December 2, 1989 || Rajiv Gandhi serves as prime minister of Congress (I)-led government. ||
 * December 2, 1989-November 7, 1990 || Vishwanath Pratap Singh serves as prime minister of National Front-led coalition government. ||
 * November 10, 1990-June 20, 1991 || Chandra Shekhar serves as prime minister, heading Samajwadi Janata Party government. ||
 * May 21, 1991 || Rajiv Gandhi assassinated near Madras. ||
 * June 20, 1991-May 15, 1996 || P.V. Narasimha Rao serves as prime minister of Congress (I)-led government. ||
 * December 6, 1992 || Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, destroyed by Hindu activists. ||
 * January-March 1993 || Communal violence in wake of Babri Masjid destruction wracks Indian cities, especially Bombay, which suffered from a series of bomb blasts in March. ||
 * May 1995 || Unpopular Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act of 1985 allowed to lapse ||
 * April 27-May 7, 1996 || General elections for Lok Sabha oust Congress (I) government of P.V. Narasimha Rao. ||
 * May 15-28, 1996 || Minority Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigns after thirteen days. ||
 * June 1, 1996 || Haradanahalli (H.D.) Deve Gowda, head of thirteen-party United Front, sworn in as India's eleventh prime minister. ||
 * **1996:** - Congress suffers worst ever electoral defeat as Hindu nationalist BJP emerges as largest single party.
 * **1998:** - BJP forms coalition government under Prime Minister [|Atal Behari Vajpayee].
 * **1998:** - India carries out nuclear tests, leading to widespread international condemnation.
 * **1999:** February - [|Vajpayee] makes historic bus trip to Pakistan to meet Premier Nawaz Sharif and to sign bilateral Lahore peace declaration.
 * **1999:** May - Tension in Kashmir leads to brief war with Pakistan-backed forces in the icy heights around [|Kargil] in Indian-held Kashmir.
 * **1999:** October - Cyclone devastates eastern state of Orissa, leaving at least 10,000 dead.

[[|edit]] Population: 1 billion

 * **2000:** May - India marks the birth of its billionth citizen.
 * **2000:** - US President [|Bill Clinton] makes a groundbreaking visit to improve ties.
 * **2001:** January - Massive earthquakes hit the western state of Gujarat, leaving at least 30,000 dead.
 * **2001:** A high-powered rocket is launched, adding India to the club of countries able to fire big satellites deep into space.
 * **2001:** July - [|Vajpayee] meets Pakistani President [|Pervez Musharraf] in the first summit between the two neighbours in more than two years. The meeting ends without a breakthrough or even a joint statement because of differences over Kashmir.
 * **2001:** July - [|Vajpayee's] BJP party declines his offer to resign over a number of political scandals and the apparent failure of his talks with Pakistani President [|Musharraf].
 * **2001:** September - US lifts sanctions which it imposed against [|India] and [|Pakistan] after they staged nuclear tests in 1998. The move is seen as a reward for their support for the US-led anti-terror campaign.

[[|edit]] Kashmir tensions rise
War of words between Indian and Pakistani leaders intensifies. Actual war seems imminent. India successfully launches its first mission to the moon, the unmanned lunar probe [|Chandrayaan-1].
 * **2001:** October - India fires on Pakistani military posts in the heaviest firing along the dividing line of control in Kashmir for almost a year.
 * **2001:** December - Suicide squad attacks parliament in New Delhi, killing several police. The five gunmen die in the assault.
 * **2001:** December - India imposes sanctions against Pakistan, to force it to take action against two Kashmir militant groups blamed for the suicide attack on parliament. Pakistan retaliates with similar sanctions, and bans the groups in January.
 * **2001:** December - India, Pakistan mass troops on common border amid mounting fears of a looming war.
 * **2002:** January - India successfully test-fires a nuclear-capable ballistic missile - the Agni - off its eastern coast.
 * **2002:** February - Inter-religious bloodshed breaks out after 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya are killed in a train fire in Godhra, Gujarat. More than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, die in subsequent riots. (Police and officials blamed the fire on a Muslim mob; a 2005 government investigation said it was an accident.)
 * **2002:** May - Pakistan test-fires three medium-range surface-to-surface Ghauri missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
 * **2002:** June - UK, US urge their citizens to leave India and Pakistan, while maintaining diplomatic offensive to avert war.
 * **2002:** July - Retired scientist and architect of India's missile programme APJ Abdul Kalam is elected president.
 * **2003:** August - At least 50 people are killed in two simultaneous bomb blasts in Bombay.
 * **2003:** November - India matches Pakistan's declaration of a Kashmir ceasefire.
 * **2003:** December - India, Pakistan agree to resume direct air links and to allow overflights.
 * **2004:** January - Groundbreaking meeting held between government and moderate Kashmir separatists.
 * **2004:** May - Surprise victory for Congress Party in general elections. [|Manmohan Singh] is sworn in as prime minister.
 * **2004:** September - India, along with Brazil, Germany and Japan, launches an application for a permanent seat on the [|UN Security Council].
 * **2004:** November - India begins to withdraw some of its troops from Kashmir.
 * **2004:** December - Thousands are killed when tidal waves, caused by the [|2004 Indian Ocean earthquake] off the [|Indonesian] coast, devastate coastal communities in the south and in the [|Andaman] and [|Nicobar] Islands.
 * **2005:** July - More than 1,000 people are killed in floods and landslides caused by monsoon rains in Mumbai (Bombay) and Maharashtra region.
 * **2005:** 8 October - An earthquake, with its epicentre in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, kills more than 1,000 people in Indian-administered Kashmir.
 * **2006:** February - India's largest-ever rural jobs scheme is launched, aimed at lifting around 60 million families out of poverty.
 * **2006 March - US and India sign a nuclear agreement during a visit by US President George W Bush. The US gives India access to civilian nuclear technology while India agrees to greater scrutiny for its nuclear programme.**
 * **2007:** May - Government announces its strongest economic growth figures for 20 years - 9.4% in the year to March.
 * **2007:** July - India says the number of its people with HIV or AIDS is about half of earlier official tallies. Health ministry figures put the total at between 2 million and 3.1 million cases, compared with previous estimates of more than 5 million.
 * **2007:** July - [|Pratibha Patil] becomes first woman to be elected president of India.
 * **2008:** July - Congre
 * **2006:** November - [|Hu Jintao] makes the first visit to India by a Chinese president in a decade.
 * **2006:** December - US President [|George W. Bush] approves a controversial law allowing India to buy US nuclear reactors and fuel for the first time in 30 years.
 * **2007:** 18 February - 68 passengers, most of them Pakistanis, are killed by bomb blasts and a blaze on a train travelling from New Delhi to the Pakistani city of Lahore.
 * **2007:** February - India and Pakistan sign an agreement aimed at reducing the risk of accidental nuclear war.
 * **2007:** March - Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh state kill more than 50 policemen in a dawn attack.
 * **2007:** April - India's first commercial space rocket is launched, carrying an Italian satellite.
 * **2007:** May - At least nine people are killed in a bomb explosion at the main mosque in Hyderabad. Several others are killed in subsequent rioting.
 * **2007:** May - Government announces its strongest economic growth figures for 20 years - 9.4% in the year to March.
 * **2007:** July - India says the number of its people with HIV or AIDS is about half of earlier official tallies. Health ministry figures put the total at between 2 million and 3.1 million cases, compared with previous estimates of more than 5 million.
 * **2007:** July - [|Pratibha Patil] becomes first woman to be elected president of India.
 * **2008:** July - Congress-led governing coalition survives vote of confidence brought after left-wing parties withdraw their support over controversial nuclear cooperation deal with US. After the vote, several left-wing and regional parties form new alliance to oppose government, saying it has been tainted by corruption.
 * **2008:** July - Series of explosions kills 49 in Ahmedabad, in Gujarat state. The little-known group Indian Mujahideen claims responsibility.
 * **2008:** October - Following approval by the US Congress, President [|George W Bush] signs into law a nuclear deal with India, which ends a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with Delhi.
 * **2008:** November - Nearly 200 people are killed and hundreds injured in a series of co-ordinated attacks by gunmen on the main tourist and business area of India's financial capital Mumbai. India blames militants from Pakistan for the attacks and demands that Islamabad take strong action against those responsible.
 * **2008:** December - India announces "pause" in peace process with Pakistan. Indian cricket team cancels planned tour of Pakistan.
 * **2009:** February - India and Russia sign deals worth $700m, according to which Moscow will supply uranium to Delhi.
 * **2009:** April - Trial of sole surviving suspect in [|Mumbai attacks] begins.
 * **2009:** May - Resounding general election victory gives governing Congress-led alliance of PM [|Manmohan Singh] an enhanced position in parliament, only 11 seats short of an absolute majority.